Back to the Start
by shortystylee
Summary: After ten years together, tragedy strikes in Sansa and Margaery's relationship, leaving Sansa to look back to where they began and how they got that far as she wonders if the world will right itself so that they can continue on. Planned as a series of one-shots from their relationship. Modern AU. Rating subject to change later.
1. Chapter 1

The room was large and clean, with wide eastern facing windows flanked with generic taupe curtains. The seventh floor gave it a great view of Blackwater Bay, you could see the freight harbor with its long, flat ships and the public marina, its docks busy with everything from small fishing boats to extravagant hundred foot yachts. As she turned to look out the window, all she could see were the dim lights of the yachts, but she knew that further down there was the boardwalk, strings of lighted lanterns illuminating the various kiosks selling popcorns and other snacks, children running from game booth to game booth, young couples walking hand in hand in the quickly diminishing daylight. People would pay a lot of money to have a condo that boasted this same view.

Where she was, there was none of that. There was the faint, albeit reassuring, ever-present smell of antiseptic cleaning products, the murmur of commotion in the hallway from the nurses on duty that evening, and the low buzz of all the different machines in the room. The television was turned on to the local news station though no one was watching it. All she heard above the white noise surrounding her was the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor attached to her son, _their son_, as he slept peacefully in the heated little bed on the other side of the room, no idea what was happening in the world around them. She hadn't even held him yet, no one had except the staff. There was another heartbeat, slower paced, but steady, thank the gods, that worried her the most. The doctor had said their son was perfectly healthy, a little underweight from being early but everything else was one-hundred percent.

_Not with Margaery, though_, Sansa thought, looking over at her love, unconscious, with what seemed like every plastic tube in the hospital going into her at one spot or another. _That's not what they'd said. No one-hundred percents, no reassuring "she'll be fine, Mrs. Stark, don't you worry yourself."_

Margaery's whole pregnancy had gone along surprisingly well, no problems of any sort until a few days ago when little Alen decided to make his way into the world a month and a half ahead of schedule. Really though, it was still fine at first. Alen was born, named after Margaery's late mother Alerie and her grandmother Olenna. As soon as he was out and getting cleaned up, Sansa ran hurriedly out into the waiting room to give the first bit of news to the host of Margaery's brothers, her father and grandmother, as well as what was left of the Stark family in Westeros. There was gleeful screaming and hugging, Loras texting Renly frantically, Jon wrapping his arm around Ygritte and placing a delicate kiss to the top of her head, but then there was panic.

There were crash carts and nurses, doctors in full operating attire, gloves up to their elbows, running through the double doors that Sansa had just ran happily out of, and the red light above the door to labor and delivery was flashing out its warning.

How something had happened so quickly Sansa didn't understand. She remembered yelling and trying to get back to Margaery, but they wouldn't allow her in. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital bed, IV sticking out of her arm. The clock told her it was about six hours later. Ygritte was sitting in the chair next to the bed, thumbing through a magazine. She explained that after Sansa had been screaming and knocked over one of the nurses she'd been sedated. The doctors came in soon after she woke up, telling her that Margaery had lost a lot of blood, almost too much, and very quickly. She'd lost consciousness and the rest would be a waiting game after the transfusions and surgeries.

That was four days ago.

Sansa was at Kings Landing General from 8am to 8pm every day, barely leaving the room. Margaery's family was well-off and thankfully they could afford to pay for the private room. Her brother Jon was out of active military duty now, instead having a job at the recruitment and training center at the capital and he would pick her up each night and take her back to the small flat he shared with Ygritte. Ygritte accompanied Sansa to the hospital each day, trying to talk to her, getting her food and lattes from the cafe in the basement.

For most of the time in the beginning, Sansa just sat and stared, until one of the nurses mentioned it was a good idea to talk to Margaery. Since then, Sansa sat in the bedside chair, one hand clutching at the wadded up remnants of a tissue, the other gently holding Margaery's hand in hers. She told stories of growing up at Winterfell, stories from when she was at university before they had started dating, describing how little Alen was today, even stories from the news or articles she read in whatever home and garden magazines they had in the waiting room that day.

At around 7:45 that evening, there was a quiet knock at the door.

"It's alright, you can come in," Sansa replied, figuring it was another doctor or nurse to tell her she had to leave for the night, or one of the maternity nurses coming to take Alen back to the nursery for the evening. Instead, Sansa turned and saw their daughter Katie run in the room, Ygritte straggling behind her. Katie was four, almost five as she was always quick to remind people, and according to Jon, a miniature replica of Sansa at that age, but she was willful and reminded Sansa so much of her sister Arya. Her wispy auburn-colored hair that was normally curly and unruly had been pulled in two braids by Ygritte that morning and swung back and forth across her back as she ran to her mother. She stopped where Sansa was sitting, and tugged at her denim overall-style romper, adjusting it, clearly not pleased that it was a skirt and not the shorts or pants she wanted.

"Mummy! Mummy!" she exclaimed excitedly, "Aunty Gritte took me to the cafe and, and, she got me a chocolate milkshake! It was so cool, she didn't even make me share it, and, and -"

"Be quiet, wolf child," Ygritte chided. "We're not at home. You'll wake the whole hospital up."

"Sorry, Aunty Gritte."

"She's right, Katie. You know you need to be quiet here. I'm sure the chocolate milkshake didn't help," she remarked, looking up at Ygritte and smiling. No matter what she did or how sad she was, everything Katie said could make her forget, if just for an instant.

"Will Mom be okay?" Katie asked as she climbed up in Sansa's lap. "I tried to ask Aunty Gritte but she said I should ask you when we got back."

"She'll be fine, sweetling, don't worry."

"Are you sure? When Aunty Arry had her baby they came home right away."

Sansa sighed. It was true. Arya's labor lasted a whole four hours and she and Gendry were back at home the next morning. "Did I ever tell you that you're too smart? Do you want the real truth?"

"Please? I'm almost five now, Mummy, almost growned up."

"You _are_ almost five now, aren't you?" she stated, smiling, then steeling herself. She hadn't talked to anyone directly about what was going on yet, just listened to what was said to her. _Would explaining it to Katie make it suddenly all too real?_ Sansa asked herself. _I have to. She can see what's happening. I can't shield her from this._ "Katie, Mom's not doing so well. The doctors had problems when she had your new brother and she lost a lot of blood. That's why it looks like she's sleeping right now."

"If she's sleeping, won't she wake up soon? Maybe you should kiss her, like in the stories."

_Oh, my sweet summer child_.

"I hope she'll wake up soon, we all do, but for right now all we can do is wait."

"And pray?"

"Of course," Sansa replied, picking Katie up to her kiss Margaery on the cheek, then setting her back on her feet. "Do you remember the song that Mummy taught you?"

She nodded her head and started to sing.

"Gentle Mother, font of mercy,

Save our sons from war, we pray,

Stay the swords and stay the arrows,

Let them know a brighter day."

Ygritte stood up from the extra chair in the room, and held her hand out, motioning to Katie that it was time to leave. She looked up at Sansa, who nodded, and Katie joined hands with Ygritte, laid her other hand gently on top of the little bed that Alen was in and said goodnight to her baby brother, then headed out into the hallway. Sansa could still hear her singing as she sat down on the edge of the hospital bed, grabbing both of Margaery's hands in hers, careful of all the IVs.

"Gentle Mother, strength of women,

Help our daughters through this fray,

Soothe the wrath and tame the fury,

Teach us all a kinder way."

_Is this what we've come to, Margs?_ Sansa thought. _I truthfully never thought we could get this far. You never doubted though. I'm ashamed I ever doubted you, doubted us. I swear to all the gods that are out there that I'll never doubt us again. Do you remember how we started?_

"Ten years ago seems like such a long time..." Sansa said quietly, reaching out to brush Margaery's chestnut brown hair out of her face. "At least I know what we can talk about tomorrow."

She lightly kissed the top of Margaery's head, walked over to say goodnight to her son, pressing her hand up against the hard plastic just as Katie had done, then joined her daughter and Ygritte in the hallway to leave for the night.

**Note: Please let me know how you feel about this! There is a big lack of Sansa x Margaery fics which is rather sad. I've got some other ideas for subsequent chapters so if there is interest I'll definitely continue it (actually I probably will even if there is none). Title is taken from "The Scientist" by Coldplay. **


	2. Chapter 2: Creep

**Chapter 2: Creep**

The summer of 1993 was turning out to be one of the longest and warmest on record, even in Winterfell. The dogs and horses they still managed to keep on their property had enjoyed it, the farmers in the North were enjoying bumper crops unheard of in that area for decades, and her younger brothers were certainly enjoying weeks upon weeks of camping outside and swimming in streams that were normally icy cold.

For Sansa, the long summer was continuing and only getting hotter on the road trip south to Highgarden. It took almost two full days of driving, sitting in the middle row next to her younger sister, her mother and father up in front, and every usable space of the Dodge Caravan filled with her belongings and extras for her siblings who were already there.

For as long as she could remember, all that Sansa had wanted in life was to attend college in Kings Landing, the capital and arguably the most metropolitan and fashionable city in Westeros. Even since she had heard about it, she had made plans in her head to go to Maegor College for Women, a thousand year old institution in the old historic city center, still in use from the days when the Baratheons were kings amongst men, instead of just her father's ex-business partners.

That's why the Stark family mini-van was heading along the Rose Road Highway instead of continuing along the Kings Road all the way to Kings Landing. It was just barely two years ago when the investigation of Baratheon Industries for insider trading and embezzlement began, and when all was said and done, Robert Baratheon was out of a job, out of a best friend and business partner, and his wife Cersei Lannister-Baratheon would be spending the next ten years in a minimum security women's federal prison in the Stormlands. Robert himself was spared the brunt of the blame since there were no records or evidence that he had been involved in his wife's doings, but the cost of the business interruption, trial, and lawyers had left the company with no choice but bankruptcy, not to mention that the majority of the money she'd made off with had either been funneled away to off-shore account in Braavos or was long gone up her nose years ago. With no ambition to try to start again, Robert returned to his family's house in Storms' End and as far as Sansa had heard, mostly from overhearing conversations between her mother and father, had resigned himself to drinking, cursing his imprisoned wife, and yearning for Ned's long-gone younger sister Lyanna.

With his mother imprisoned and his father wasting away in what was left of his family's estate, Joffrey had been sent to live with his father Tywin out in the west, a stern grey man with a military background who promptly put his grandson into a private military prep school, officially putting an end to his relationship with Sansa, which when she thought back on it now, had been a relationship dying a slow death from the start. It'd been fun in the beginning, the first boy who liked her, bright blonde hair and green eyes, who looked and dressed like he should be singing in one of those popular boy bands, New Kids on the Block, or whoever was popular at the time. The distance didn't help and as soon as the news broke about the Baratheon Industries scandal, everything went quickly downhill. She missed parts of it, the good times when she went on vacation with the Baratheons to Dorne or the beaches of the Sunset Sea near Casterly Rock, his mother's hometown, and when he was in good moods and would dote upon her endlessly. _In the end though, what did we really have? Sure, he was pretty cute but we had absolutely nothing in common, not to mention how awful he got once he realized I was seriously not going to sleep with him. Should've just ended it right then,_ she thought now, _but it's over now, too late to dwell_.

After the business went under, the majority of the money the Starks had invested was also gone. They still had the income from Catelyn Stark's part-time nursing job at Winterfell City Hospital, but they had to start all over again. Ned was in contact again with his younger brother Benjen, who had continued on the Stark family age-old logging business that they were known for. It was certainly a less profitable and much less glamorous business to be in, and Sansa understood fully that the changes would affect them all, for her, most of all it meant that any chance of going to Maegor was off the table.

Instead, in a few hours she would be joining Robb, Jon, and their long-time friend Theon at Highgarden Provincial University - a thought that used to make her cringe. She smiled to herself now thinking about the way she used to act. The real world kicked Sansa Stark square in the ass when her parents first lost their money and pulled her and her sister out of Mordane Academy and her younger brothers out of Luwin Boys School, and they transferred to Winterfell Public Schools near the end of her sophomore year of high school.

Her older brother Robb and half brother Jon, both the same age, had already accepted to attend university at Highgarden so they weren't really affected much, aside from having to rush to take out student loans instead of using what their parents had been saving. Robb had been allowed to finish out the last month or so of his senior year at Luwin's and Jon had been in the public high school the whole time anyways. When the end of their freshman year came around, her father had gotten it into his head that instead of staying in the dorms or renting one of the outrageously expensive apartments near campus, that they would purchase a small house for Robb, Jon, and their friend Theon to live in. The whole family had gone to move them in during the summer and Sansa remembered now just how run down it was. Sure, everything that needed to work worked to make the house habitable, but save for that it was awful, which was probably the only reason they were able to afford it. Part of the agreement with the boys was that they would all keep jobs and spend their own money and sweat working on repairs to fix up the place. _I hope in the time they've had it they've actually made it seem like a house_, Sansa thought to herself, getting more and more anxious as they got closer to Highgarden. Each distance sign along the highway seemed to be counting down to her future much too quickly.

A few hours later, they finally pulled up and parked at the curb in front of the house. Sitting on the opposite side of the van from the house, Sansa quickly undid her seatbelt and leaned forward to get a better view from the rolled down car window in the front and took a long look at the house she planned to spend her next four years in. _It's beautiful_, she thought. _I almost didn't recognize it when we pulled up_. It was still small and the roof looked like it might need some work, but the boys had re-painted the siding a light blue color and replaced all of the gross half broken and half missing shutters with new white ones. She remembered when she was last here and while she could certainly tell it wasn't perfect, she definitely felt like a weight was lifted off of her when she saw even just the outside improvements. Within a few minutes, she saw the screen door fling open, slam against the wall, and soon Robb, Jon, and her brothers' two Husky dogs were all running down the steps leading down from the porch and across the small front yard to greet her parents and sister, all already standing out on the sidewalk. She watched Arya rip open the sliding van door and practically vault herself into Jon's arms as she grabbed her baby pink canvas backpack, slid across the seat to get out of the car, and joined the group, quickly being smushed into a group hug between Robb and Jon, once Arya had finally let him go.

The two days that followed were a blur. Their parents and Arya stayed for the weekend, helping clean up the attic loft that would be Sansa's room and move all of her things in. Afterwards, Ned helped the boys with some of the house projects they were wary of tackling by themselves, some plumbing and electrical, fixing up the front concrete steps to the porch and things like that, and Catelyn managed to wrangle both Sansa and Arya, the latter needing much more wrangling than the former, into helping her cook what seemed like a month's worth of food and then store it all in the freezer. She was amazed at the work her brothers and Theon had done with the inside as well, it was furnished and even somewhat decorated for a house with three college guys, and not just by movie posters. Sure, the faucets were all a little leaky, the water pressure was awful, they'd said the hot water heater was quite temperamental, and she found she had to put her full body weight into her bedroom door if she wanted it to shut all the way, but it was far better than she originally imagined. _Maybe I was expecting something a little more Animal House_, she thought.

By the time her parents and Arya had finally pulled away from the curb on Sunday, she felt like it was the first time she'd been able to sit down in ages, in spite of just having sat in the car for two whole days not forty-eight hours prior. _Classes would be starting on Wednesday, only two full days away_, she told herself, so instead of allowing her the time to sit and think, she ran back up the stairs to her room, now furnished and somewhat organized, and grabbed her backpack.

"Robb? Jon? I'm gonna head out for a little bit and check out where my classes are for Wednesday, okay?" She yelled from the front door as she put her shoes on, but all she heard were some grumbled words of acknowledgement from the living room and the noise from the television.

_Well, I guess that's as good as any answer they'll give me_, she thought to herself smiling. She was glad they'd been able to convince the housing office to allow her to live off-campus, something that normally was mandatory for incoming freshman. _It'll be good though, living with Robb and the guys. I can't believe how much I missed them when they left two years ago… even Theon, obnoxious as he might be at times I got used to having him around._ The only part that worried her about living off campus was making friends. After getting pulled out of Mordane's in the end of sophomore year, she was startled and, above all, actually pretty angry about how the girls she thought were her friends had treated her after her move to Winterfell High. _You'd think I had personally insulted them by moving schools and moved halfway across the country with the way they cut me off. None of what happened was my fault, not even my family's fault, and if it wasn't for Jeyne I would never have known what was going on. Gods, I wish Jeyne was here_, Sansa thought, crossing the street that led to the main campus and the student union. She'd known Jeyne Poole since as long as she could remember. Her family was not nearly as well off as Sansa's had been and Jeyne had only been able to attend Mordane's one a number of scholarships, which already made her somewhat of a social pariah from the start. After graduation, she had decided to stay and take classes at Winterfell Community College, telling Sansa she wanted to save money and promising to join her down in Highgarden for their junior year.

The rest of the evening Sansa spent slowly strolling around campus, map and class schedule in hand, exploring and plotting out on the map where all of her classes were and how long it would take to walk to each. If there was one thing that Sansa Stark hated it was not being on time. After finishing her self tour, she stopped by a cafe she'd passed on the way there, grabbing a coffee, and thinking about what her mother and father had both said before they'd left, also picking up a job application from the shift manager. _I practically lived at the coffee shop back home... how hard can it be?_

Getting home, she toed her shoes off into the pile just inside the front door and went straight up to her room.

"What the... ugh, it's hot as the seven hells in this room..." she swore out loud to herself. It was still nice outside during her walk back, so as quick as she could, she threw her bag onto the bed, which creaked from the new weight, and then pulled open the window that opened out over their backyard. _Huh, I wonder if that would work_, she thought, noticing that the window led out to a good five or so feet of roof. _Well, better than being hot inside. You're not afraid of heights anyways_. Coffee in hand, she climbed out the window and sat on the roof, long legs straight out in front of her and leaning up against the siding of the house once she found it was clean enough. Although not very high up, the roof gave her a much better view of the other houses in the neighborhood, mostly old bungalows like theirs, with a few ranches or big brick houses like the one next door thrown in the mix every so often. _I can definitely get used to this_, she thought, looking around at her new neighbors.

The only two yards she was able to see into were the houses on either side, the one of the left looked to be an exact match to hers, with a backyard full of lawn chairs, a big fire pit, and a couple games of corn hole on the far side, though no one was actually out there yet. The house to the right was must more interesting she decided. The backyard was quite a bit deeper than hers, probably about twice as much, and looked like it had been plucked straight out of a gardening magazine. She'd heard all about the old mansions of the Reach and their sprawling gardens but she never thought she would have a miniature version of one not twenty feet from her house. _The yards at the old Stark Estate couldn't even compare to what was in that small backyard_, she thought. Midway through her thoughts, she saw someone come out into the open area of the yard that held a barbecue grill and a large dining table and chairs set on a wooden patio. It was a girl, probably close to her age, but Sansa figured maybe older if she already lived here. She wore a simple knee length dress with a floral pattern and cap sleeves, a pair of forest green Wellington boots, a large floppy sunhat, and carried a woven basket full of flower clippings and a couple tomatoes. She set the basket down on the table, looked up to the sky, and took off her hat, letting loose a tumble of wavy chestnut brown hair that settled somewhere just below her shoulders.

She finally turned towards where Sansa was sitting and looked up. _Oh great, she probably just thinks I'm some weirdo sitting up on the roof to watch people. She's really pretty though, I bet Theon used to hang out up here all the time until I moved in_, she thought, a smile spreading across her face as she tried not to laugh out loud at that thought. The girl noticed her though, but didn't seem to mind, just folded her hat up under her arm, smiled and waved at Sansa, and before picking the basket back up and going inside her house.

_Well, since that's arguably the most exciting thing that's happened today, I might as well head inside. _What was left of her coffee had cooled off and the sun had set almost completely as she climbed back through her window and into her room.

The next two days came and went without any real commotion. Robb worked Monday so Jon showed her more of the actual city of Highgarden and Robb showed her more of campus when Jon worked the next day as well as where all the grocery stores, banks, and those types of places were, not to mention drop off her application at the cafe. They had a couple of friends over on Monday night, Jon's girlfriend Ygritte, Robb's girlfriend Jeyne Westerling, among some of their other friends from class, a girl named Osha, and some other guys, Gendry and Hot Pie. They were all pretty fun, Sansa thought when she looked back on it. Ygritte was a graduate student a couple years older than Jon, same with Osha, but the rest were all in their junior year like Robb and Jon.

Each evening though, once she was thoroughly disgusted with the temperature in her room, she'd open her window again and climb out onto the roof. _Why did I ever think I'd do well in the South? I guess the winter is in my veins just as much as it is for Arya and the rest of them_. She'd read for awhile, until the dusk got too dark and started to strain her eyes, and each evening she'd notice the girl next door, working in the garden, floppy hat, long tunic or flowery dress, and a basket full of what she'd gathered that day. She'd always look up and notice Sansa sitting on the roof, smile widely and wave, only to get Sansa's somewhat embarrassed wave in return.

The next morning, Sansa woke up early, making sure she would have enough time to get ready for her first morning of classes. As she paced across her room, holding up various outfits to herself and laying the ones that made the first cut down on the bed, she noticed movement next door out the corner of her eye. When she walked over to the window, she saw the same girl again, the one who had smiled and waved at her each time she saw her. She was dressed in black leggings with an oversized red flannel shirt belted at the waist and mid-calf motorcycle boots, squatting down in front of a row of large terra cotta pots with small garden shears in hand and that same basket, collecting what looked like could only be herbs from each of the pots. Sansa did realize she was staring until the girl quickly turned her head as if something had startled her. _Oh, crap, crap, crap, don't look up here. I promise I'm not trying to creep on you. She must be starting to think it's odd that I'm always on the roof, it's just there's no air and all the heat rises to my room,_ Sansa thought. She let out an audible sigh a moment later when the girl was joined by a couple other people, all guys, in the garden. _They must have just called her name from the house or something, that's gotta be it_.

"Alright, Sansa, enough being weird, it's time to get ready."

After a half hour or so, she was dressed and ready to go, and she finally heard the guys moving around downstairs. _Ya know, I've never seen any other girls in the house next door except for her… That's it. I'm gonna make a point to find out who she is and introduce myself next time I see her. That's how people make friends, right? Talk to their neighbors. I bet Robb and Jon know some of the guys I see there too._ Putting her books she'd need for her three classes today into her bag, she finally made it downstairs for breakfast.

"So… I was just kind of curious, but you don't happen to know the neighbors, do you?" Sansa asked, sitting down at the table in the open spot next to Jon.

Robb was busy reading through the back of the cereal box, same as he used to do when they'd all gather for breakfast around the large table in their old house, except only this time he wasn't barricading himself in with all the boxes so no one could see him. "Huh?" he asked, looking away from the box and over to his sister across the table.

"The neighbors. You know, big house on the right with the gardens in back."

"Yea," he nodded, pausing to take in another spoonful of cereal, "Everyone knows them. It's the co-op house the Tyrell family started forever ago. Growing Strong Co-op, I think it's called. Guess it was originally for botany or forestry majors or something like that but now anyone can apply to live there. Why? What's up?"

"Nothing's up. Just thought it'd be good to make some friends that are girls. As much as I love you three and your various friends it would probably be a good idea to branch out a bit. Don't really know anyone here yet and I've seen one of the girls over there who's in the gardens all the time. Shorter than me, wavy brown hair, almost always wearing something flowery." _Except for today_, she thought to herself.

Robb sat back in his chair as if he was giving it some thought, looked over at Jon and Theon, both who just shrugged, then back to Sansa. "I'll bet it's Margaery. She's the only one I think that works on the gardens... but I'm, um, not certain if she's a good choice."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Sansa asked, not having any clue at what her brother was on about.

Robb looked around the room sheepishly for a few seconds. "Margaery Tyrell might not be content with, um, how do I put this? Being just friends with you."

"Robb!" Jon yelled from next to Sansa, his eyes throwing daggers over at Robb.

_Seriously, that's what this is about?_ "Oh, come on, Jon," she said, huffing indignantly. "I spent how many years at Mordane's? You don't think I had friends that were into girls?"

Robb and Jon looked between each other, not really sure what to say. They seemed somewhat embarrassed that they'd even brought that up now. The three of them had paid no mind to Theon though, silently sitting at the end of the table staring at his toast, seemingly more intrigued by his breakfast than anything else, until he looked up at everyone else a moment later.

"So, Sans, why don't you tell us all about it then?" He asked, trying not to laugh.

"Hey! Shut the fuck up, Greyjoy. That's my little sister you're trying to perv on," Robb yelled back and the kitchen table quickly went from a somewhat regular conversation to Robb and Jon threatening to kill Theon should he entertain those types of thoughts regarding their sister again.

_Really, guys, it's not that big a deal_, Sansa thought, getting up from the table and walking her dishes over to the sink. "Just forget I asked about it, okay? I'll see you later though, don't wanna be late on my first day."

Three days passed and by the time Friday rolled around, Sansa was at her wits' end and about to call this whole thing quits. Within three days of classes, she'd been overwhelmed by all the syllabuses and requirements, classrooms full of hundreds of students, rude workers in the student union, showing up to the wrong buildings multiple times, and to top it all off she didn't think she'd talked to more than a handful of people in her classes, most not really wanting to have any sort of conversation with her.

Frustrated, she headed straight upstairs once she got home, ignoring the calls from Robb and Jon playing the Sega in the front room, dropping her backpack full of books on the floor and climbing out once again on to the roof. _Oh, and you know what's worse, too?_ Sansa thought, _I never even heard back from the coffee place about that job. I've checked the machine every day and no messages, nothing_.

"I just don't know," she finally said out loud. "Maybe… maybe, I don't belong here."

"What'd you say?"

"Who's there?" Sansa called out, momentarily jolted out of her self-pity and into defense mode, eyes busily scanning everywhere until she saw where the voice came from.

It was the girl from next door, looking up at her, arms crossed in front of her leaning on the flat tops of the fence boards. She must've been on a step ladder to see over it, it had to be at least six feet.

"Hey, don't worry," she replied, the same smile and wave again, albeit a little more reserved this time. "Just me. You alright up there?"

"Yea, I'm fine," Sansa replied curtly.

"You sure? You just seem a bit upset, that's all."

_Gods, can she please stop talking? This rooftop is supposed to be my little cool down area_. "Why do you care if I'm upset?" she snapped back, immediately regretting it.

She watched the girl look down at her feet and run a hand through her hair before looking up at Sansa again. "Oh, well then. I guess I'll leave you to yourself." She said and started to step down from her ladder.

"Hey, wait, listen. I didn't mean to say that. I've just had a really crap day, that's all. I shouldn't take it out on you, I don't even know your name."

By the time she was done speaking, the girl had come back up the fence and was leaning over again. "It's Margaery," she said, "Margaery Tyrell. I've noticed you up there for a while and kept waving. Kinda wondered when you'd finally say something."

"Well, sorry I had to be so rude, it's not usually like me. I guess this whole new in town thing has gotten to me, ya know. Don't really have anyone to talk to about it yet," she offered as somewhat of an excuse. "Oh, I didn't say yet, but I'm Sansa Stark. My brothers and their friend live here too."

"Well it's nice to meet you. Don't be shy though, you don't have to sit up on that roof and talk to yourself, ya know?" She looked down at the green watch on her wrist as it started to beep. "Shit. Sorry, Sansa, I've gotta run… but hey, we're having a bit of a party tomorrow night, people'll start showing up around eight or so. Sort of a blow off steam from the first week back to classes thing. You should come, if you're not too busy."

"Yea, thanks…" Sansa said, watching her smile and climb down from the ladder and disappear inside the house. _Well, that certainly wasn't how I expected this evening to go_, she thought. _Robb and Jon will probably hate it but I think I'll take her up on that invite._

Sansa was doubting herself once again as she walked up the steps to the house next door at around quarter to nine the next night. _This was a horrible idea_, she thought. She'd taken almost an hour getting ready, messing with her bangs, playing with her hair, before finally decided just to blow it out and throw it in a messy braid. _Messy was in now, right? That whole grunge scene?_ She had picked out a pair of fitted light washed jeans, a tight plain baby blue t-shirt, and a new yet old leather jacket, which used to be her mom's from way back when.

The front yard sloped gently, just as hers did, and a wide brick paver pathway led up to the front, flanked by wooden planter boxes full of wildflowers. The large three story brick house sat in front of her and she could hear the music coming out loudly through the opened windows, even more loudly than it was ten minutes ago, when she sat on her bed in the loft room, waiting for her brothers to leave so she could walk over without them knowing. She recognized the song, Two Princes by Spin Doctors.

The front door, brick red and matching the shutters, was closed, and falling back on the etiquette lessons from childhood, she rang the doorbell and waited, nervously bouncing back and forth between her left and right foot. A few seconds passed and no one had opened the door yet. "This _was_ a bad idea," Sansa said out loud softly. _I bet that girl was just being polite_, she thought, but as she stated to turn around she heard the door open.

"Well, what have we here?" The man's voice said. In the doorway blocking her entrance were two men, both looked to be around Robb and Jon's age, maybe a bit older. There was a step up between them, making them look tall but she realized that because of that they were actually of a height with her. The one who had spoken was leaning casually up against the door frame, and staring down at her with bright blues eyes and dark brown, almost black, hair that was long and pulled in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He wore a black t-shirt with a faded yellow stag design on the front paired with expertly ripped jeans that bunched up around where they met his leather boots.

"I, ugh, I'm new," Sansa spat out. "I just moved in next door and..."

"Next door?" He said excitedly, cutting her off. "With Robb and Jon? Really... gods what I wouldn't give to-"

"Renly! Stop!" The other man said, playfully shoving him before slipping his arm protectively around his waist. He was trimmer, perhaps the build of a swimmer or a runner, with crazy curly dark blonde hair and a forest green flannel over a light grey t-shirt. "You've scared the girl half to death with your first question, just look at her," he said, motioning towards her, "and I don't like you talking about how you pine over her roommate."

Sansa looked back and forth between the both of them, thinking for a moment that they did actually make a cute couple, before she managed to speak. "...brother." Sansa squeaked out. _Stop talking like that, Sans, all nervous. They're just neighbors, just college kids, no different from you._

"What'd you say?" Renly asked quickly.

"I said," she began, "He's not just my roommate. He's my older brother. Jon's our half-brother."

Renly stood and looked her over, but the curly haired one spoke first. "I can definitely see that now. The hair, the eyes, the height. It's pretty obvious now why Margs -"

"It's pretty obvious that you're annoying my new friend, big brother." Sansa let out a sigh of relief as Margaery butted in, as if she'd been holding her breath this whole conversation. This was the first time Sansa had seen her look a bit different. Instead of the flowered dresses, this time she had on denim cut-off shorts and a large university sweatshirt, the neckline cut so it fell off her shoulders. She placed herself between the two men and looked down at her. "Sorry, Sansa, I was out in the yard. Didn't hear the bell, I guess. Well," she said, looking between the two men, "I see you've met my old brother Loras and his boyfriend Renly. Loras Tyrell, Renly Baratheon, this is our new neighbor, Sansa Stark. Just started at Highgarden this past week. Now, if you'll excuse us, I invited her over for the party, not to stand on the porch and get the third degree from you two." She smiled and turned her gaze back towards Sansa and offering her hand out to her. "Come on."

Grabbing her hand, Sansa mumbled a "Nice to meet you" at Margaery's brother and his boyfriend, before planting her feet at the entrance when the realization of who she had just met dawned on her.

"Wait, did you say Baratheon?" Sansa asked. "As in Robert Baratheon? Baratheon Industries?"

Renly looked over at Sansa and laughed a little bit at her question. "Yes, dear, guilty as charged. Though, not actually guilty. Robert's my oldest brother and fortunately for me I was nowhere near involved with his company. But you're a Stark though, so I'm sure you're well aware of what happened."

"I've done my best to put it behind me, as did the rest of my family. I'm sure you can understand," Sansa replied.

"Definitely. Now go enjoy yourself, Stark."

Sansa nodded and smiled, grateful that the one Baratheon she'd managed to run into seemed to be nothing like Robert, before allowing Margaery to tug on her arm to pull her into the house and through the mobs of people inside. A lot of them parted when they saw Margaery coming and Sansa had to guess there was probably about a hundred people throughout the house. _Even more if this house has a basement_, she thought. _I wonder if this is the type of party I missed out on in high school? Joff was always talking about the keggers he went to in Kings Landing… either Winterfell High had no such thing or… well maybe I just wasn't invited. _Something told her Arya had managed to get the invites. She'd made friends quickly after changing schools, mostly guys, and had many more friends as well as less fights than she ever did at Mordane's.

"Do you know all these people?" Sansa asked, almost yelling, when they got into the kitchen at the back end of the house. The music was switching back and forth between alternative and the latest Top 40 dance hits.

Margaery shook her head as she pushed herself up to kneel on the counter, making her well above Sansa. "Oh, gods, no. Not even close. There are two floors above us and about 20 people that live here in total, so I'm sure that most of the people here are connected to someone." She turned to her left, opening the tall cupboard and pulling out two quart sized mason jars from a shelf she would've never been able to reach from the ground.

"Do you want anything? There's pretty much everything you'd want. Beer, wine… I could probably mix you up something but I give no guarantees that it won't taste like crap. Lots of soda, too, if you don't drink or whatever." She hopped off the counter and opened the fridge, facing away from Sansa and pushing various items around.

"Wine would be good," Sansa replied. "Back in the North all everyone ever talked about was how good the wines were down here in Highgarden and in the Arbor."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but even though this is the Reach, we're still all poor college kids, so while we've got some wine from the Arbor," she said, letting a bit of a giggle escape and plopping a large container down on the counter, "It's just in a box."

"That's fine. I don't know what I was expecting," Sansa replied, a little bit embarrassed. She watched as red wine filled the jar and Margaery handed it to her.

"Now," she started, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't all sorts of curious about what could possibly have made you so worked up yesterday when you've only been here a couple of days. Let's go out back. It'll be quieter and I'm pretty positive I'll freak if I have to listen to this damned Jane's Addiction song again. It's like five years old and Loras still has it on repeat."

Before Sansa had time to protest, Margaery had the box of wine put away in the fridge and was making her way towards the doors. She followed behind her through the set of double doors that led from the kitchen to the back porch, and Margaery led her to a wooden bench swing, set back against a row of trees on the edge of the porch. Sansa'd never noticed it before, but all of the trees surrounding the porch had little miniature lights strung up in them.

_Do I really even want to talk to her about the other day? Thinking back on it now I just feel so stupid, like some little girl that gets upset when the other kids in the park don't want to play with her_, Sansa thought, intently staring into the jar of wine before taking a large gulp.

"Hey, I know you don't know me very well," Margaery began after a few seconds of Sansa's silence, "but you can trust me, okay? You're stuck in that house full of dudes, I'm sure you wish you had a sister to talk to."

_Might as well_, Sansa thought. _She's been so nice so far and she's right about needing someone to talk to… maybe not the sister part as I'm sure Arya would've just made fun of me about this by now._

When she finally looked up at Margaery and started to talk, everything she'd been mulling around in her head came rushing out.

"I spent so long dreaming of moving south, first Kings Landing then here, but I don't know, what with classes and finding a job and finding my way around. You know on Thursday I went to the wrong building twice? This whole up and changing thing, my little sister Arya is so much better at it then I am. She had no problems leaving our private school and heading to public school, and it was awful for me, and I hope this isn't starting out the same way," she explained, taking a deep breath before starting again. "I don't have any friends here, except for my brothers and their friends. Really, I don't know what I expected, I just thought it'd be different. Easier." She paused for a second to take another large drink of the wine. It was too cold, too sweet, but she really couldn't have cared less. "You're the first person that's actually talked to me and I wouldn't be surprised if you thought I was just some sort of creep with the way I've been up on the roof all the time. I swear, I'm not a weirdo, it's just not air conditioned in my room and—"

"Whoa, now, slow down a bit. First, I definitely don't think you're a creep. Second, you'll get the hang of it," Margaery replied. "You should've seen Renly his first week of med school. Could've sworn a bomb had gone off in his head. Seriously though, no one ever knows what they really want at first. I wanted to be the queen when I was little. Seems like Loras stole that one from me," she joked calmly, little to no expression or change in her voice.

Sansa finally looked up at that, laughing loudly and letting herself smile.

"There, smiling. That's better," Margaery remarked, then changed the subject. "So, I take it you've never been to Highgarden?"

"Not to be sarcastic, but aren't we in Highgarden?"

"Let me ask you, if someone wanted to see the North, would you only show them a couple classrooms at Winterfell Community College and a few of the shops around the corner?"

"No, I mean, of course not!" Sansa said excitedly, turning her body to face toward Margaery on the bench and pulling her leg up and under her. "There's the waterfalls in the Wolfswood, fountains in White Harbor… and oh! The weirwood groves and heart trees, you Southerners don't have those down here anymore," she added.

"We don't, and that's exactly the point. This street and the campus isn't all of the Reach. I'll show you. You will love Highgarden as I do, I know it," Margaery promised, reaching out to fix a loose strand of hair that had come out of Sansa's braid. She took her hand and placed it on top of Sansa's, grabbing and holding on as Sansa looked up at her with wide eyes. "You will see, Sansa. Now, come on, let's get back inside. I'll introduce you to everyone."

Sansa nodded as Margaery stood up, still holding on to her hand and helping her off the bench, before finally letting go. For a moment, she stood still, somewhat missing the comforting gesture from her new friend. As they walked towards the front door, a bit of doubt started to nag at Sansa. _This really has to be too good to be true_, she thought.

"Did you mean it?" Sansa asked as Margaery held the screen door open. "You'll really show me Highgarden and the Reach?"

"Sweet summer child, of course I meant it." She held the door open with her backside and pulled her arm around Sansa, guiding her back into the party. "Next Saturday sound okay for our grand tour? Once you see it, you'll never want to leave."

**Note: It took a while, but I finally got motivated for a second chapter. I've decided to set it in the early 90s because I've been loving the 90s Sansa fanart I've seen on tumblr. Title of the chapter is for Creep by Radiohead, which just happened to be in the US top 100 charts in August 1993. Enjoy :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Come to My Window

**Ch 3: Come to My Window (March 1994)**

There were three days left in Highgarden's spring break vacation, two days until Robb and her were going to the train station together to pick up Sansa. She had wanted to plan an awesome spring break for just the two of them, this being Sansa's first college spring break and their first real break since they'd officially started dating, but Mrs. Stark had called last month, complaining of missing her baby girl, and reluctantly Sansa had agreed to spend the week back at Winterfell.

This was exactly why she was surprised to hear Loras yelling across the house for her at 10pm, saying that Robb Stark was at the front door asking for her.

"We don't go pick up Sansa for like, two days, Loras," she yelled back from her spot at the kitchen table. Early March meant she had little time left to go through her seed catalogs for this year's garden, which was what she was busying herself with at the moment. She wasn't alone, the two girls, Sarah and Kelly, who shared the room next door to hers sat at the table with her, looking through an old issue of Cosmo, and another housemate was making a pot of coffee in the kitchen.

About thirty seconds later, Loras came into this kitchen with Robb at his heels. "I know we weren't supposed to pick her up until Sunday, but this is important. We can't pick her up then, she's been here since Wednesday morning."

"What?" Margaery asked loudly. _Calm down, there's gotta be a reason. Family things, right? _"Why didn't you tell me? …why hasn't she come over here?"

"Come over to the house, I'll explain what I know," Robb said. Margaery quickly placed a bookmark in her catalog, put on a pair of sandals that were sitting by the door, followed Robb next door and joined Jon and Theon who were already sitting in the wicker porch chairs.

"Now, we don't really have much of an explanation. I called our dad and he said she got into a huge fight with mom, and just to give her some time to cool off," Robb started, sitting down in one of the chairs and motioning for Margaery to take a seat too. "She called from the train station early Wednesday morning and just told us to come pick her up and not to ask questions. She went straight up to her room as soon as we got back and she's been there ever since. Door's locked from the inside. She won't talk to any of us when we knock, but we hear her up there walking around, hear the music from her stereo change."

"Wait, so she hasn't been eating?" Margaery asked, the worry starting to come through in her voice.

"She comes down at night," Jon said. "I think she waits until we're all asleep and then raids the fridge."

"We talked and we were hoping she might let you in," Theon said. "Maybe she'll talk to you about whatever happened. It's not like her to argue with Catelyn, they always get along so well. You'll try though, right?"

"Yea," Margaery said, nodding her head yes. "Of course I'll see if she'll talk to me."

Jon opened the front door and the three boys watched Margaery climb about halfway up the stairs.

"Sansa! It's me, babe, Margaery. Your brothers and Theon are worried sick about you up there. You okay with unlocking that door and letting me in?"

They waited in silence for a few moments and heard nothing. Margaery asked again and they could plainly hear Sansa's footsteps and the creak her bed always made whenever you first sat on it, but nothing like what the door unlocking would sound like.

_Well, I can see where this is going. Probably gonna need to break out some strategy for this_.

"Alright boys, out of the way. I've got an idea that'll get this done." She turned and hustled down the half flight of stairs, turning the corner and letting herself out the door that led to the Stark's small back yard. She was quickly followed by Robb, Theon, and Jon, the first which turned on the lights in the backyard in time to see Margaery already making her way back from the garage with a ten-foot tall ladder.

"Seven fucking hells, Margaery," Theon swore, "You're not actually going to climb up to her window are you? It's pitch dark out here."

"It's not like any of you had better ideas. She's still hiding away after two days, isn't she?" She paused for a minute, pushing the ladder open and securing the legs apart. "Robb was the one that decided to wait until it was 10pm and pitch dark out to tell me that my girlfriend is in trouble, so yes, I am going up there right now. Jon, if you'd be so kind as to hold the ladder, since you're closest and all."

Jon stepped forward and held the legs steady on the poured concrete deck as Margaery made her way up the ladder, silently cursing her quick decision to wear sandals. Crawling the couple of feet on the shingles, she could see Sansa on her bed, sitting on top of the comforter, upright against the gold-toned metal bed frame with a pillow behind her back. The overhead light in the ceiling fan was turned off but both of the pastel blue lamps on the bedside tables flanking her bed were on. At her left was the Adidas shoebox which Margaery recognized as the one Sansa kept all of the pictures she'd brought with her from home. Most of those that had been taken since she'd moved to Highgarden were stuck in a half circle around the mirror on her dresser. She was going aimlessly through a handful of pictures and didn't look up to notice Margaery on her roof until she heard the noise of the window opening and saw her climb inside.

Sansa squared up the pictures she had in her hand and set them carefully back into the shoebox as Margaery closed the window tight behind her and toed off her sandals. There was not much room on Sansa's bed, but she scooted over a bit, allowing Margaery to fit herself in next to her. A few seconds went by and then she felt Sansa finally relax a bit, slumping down and allowing her head to rest on the shorter girl's shoulder.

"Sansa, you've gotta tell me what happened. Robb said you got back early two days ago and have just sat up in your room since then. He said you've been coming downstairs after the guys are asleep and taking food from the fridge. I'm just worried, that's all," Margaery explained, trying her hardest to get her worries out into words, but not sound upset. "You didn't even tell me you were coming back early."

"I didn't expect to, but, crap, Mags, it just got so out of control. I couldn't deal with it. I couldn't deal being around her knowing I was making her feel like that. I had to leave so I called Jeyne and had her drive me to the train station a couple days ago."

"Her? You mean Arya? Did you two fight again? Because if this is all her -"

"No, not Arya. She's been lovely actually." Sansa had reached her right arm out by this point, her right hand finding Margaery's left, lacing their fingers together as she took a deep breath. "It's my mother... I sort of awkwardly came out and told them about us. I didn't mean to, but she just kept going on and on about all these nice, attractive, and single male interns at the hospital, how they'd be perfect for me, and how much I needed to make sure I found myself a good man while I'm at university. It was all I heard for practically thirty six hours in a row."

XXXXXXX

Despite listening to her mother gossip about all the new interns at her work through most of family dinner the previous night, Monday lunch actually came around fairly quickly. Arya's mid-winter break was the previous month when she'd visited Highgarden, so she was home and had invited Sansa to hang out with some of her friends on Sunday night since Jeyne had to work. However, with Arya at school, now it was just her and her father sitting around the kitchen table as her mother finished bringing in lunch.

"Mom, you know you really don't have to cook up lunches like this just because I'm home. I don't eat like this at school. It's really not necessary," she said, staring at the trays of homemade sandwiches and potato salad, deviled eggs, and fruit that Catelyn was carrying in. "Jon's actually perfected the best cooking time for cup noodles and believe it or not, Theon makes about the greatest grilled cheese this side of the Wall."

"Oh, I think it's perfectly necessary for lunch, Sansa," Ned replied, tapping his foot against hers under the table. Sansa knew this lunch was made especially for her and also knew that her father rarely came home from work for lunch, choosing to eat his sack lunch with her brother Benjen and the other hourly workers. _Solidarity, or something like that, he'd told me once_.

"So, Sansa, if you're not busy tonight after dinner, there's an intern at the office who's dying to meet you," Catelyn started, bring the last of the food over and sitting down across from Sansa and her father. "I know he's a few years older than you, but he's going to be a doctor one day, you know, and those ones don't stay unattached for long."

"Mom, I really don't –"

"Now don't worry, it's just coffee. Besides, I think I know your type by now. Fair-skinned, dashingly handsome, bright eyes… oh! I think I might have a picture in the office from our last work dinner. I'll just run and –"

"Mother, stop!" _Oh, crap that was too loud_. "I'm sure he's an awesome guy but I'm not meeting him for coffee. I'm not meeting anyone for coffee."

When her father took the conversation away from Catelyn for a second it felt like a gift from the Seven, but Sansa was wary of the road this conversation was heading down. She knew she would need to tell her parents about Margaery at some point in time, she just didn't expect it to be now. "No worries, sweetheart. You don't have to meet with anyone you don't want to. Besides, sounds like you've got someone back at school anyways. Who's the lucky guy that's gonna steal my daughter away from me?"

_Moment of truth._

"…Margaery Tyrell," she answered quietly, knowing she was mumbling out the majority of it.

She watched as her mother's eyes instantly lit up and saw how excited she got. "Tyrell? Is that what you said? It must be that older one, Willas, right? Oh, honey, why didn't you tell us you met someone? It makes sense that it'd be a Tyrell. From what I hear they practically own that whole school."

_You've got to say it, Sansa. The guys have known since the beginning and even Arya's known since her visit. I'm actually quite surprised that all of Winterfell doesn't know by now. _

"It's not Willas, mom. It's his sister, Margaery."

"Sansa, don't joke with us. If it's not Willas, then it's Garlan, right? I thought you'd said he had a girlfriend already."

"It's no joke, I'm very serious. Margaery was the first person I met down there and we've been inseparable since pretty much the first weekend. It just started out as friends and progressed from there. We've been going out for about three months now and gods, it's wonderful. You'd love her, you both would. She's super smart and focused, really driven and committed to her studies so she understands why they're so important to me, but I've never had someone that I could just chill with after class or on weekends that makes me feel like I don't have to hide and I can just relax." She realized she'd been on a tangent a bit and stopped for a moment, waiting to see any responses. Ned was calm as always and she could tell that at first he was not sure he understood correctly, but she noticed the small smile he was trying to hide from his wife.

"I can't believe this," Catelyn responded, breaking the moment of silence and also noticing the look on Ned's face. "What is that smirk for? Did you know about this Ned?"

"This is the first I've heard too, Cat. And yes, it is a bit surprising."

"A bit surprising? You act like you're okay with this. And you, young lady what do you have say for yourself?"

"What do I have to…? Mom, I think you're overreacting a bit. I'm sorry for waiting to tell you, but I wanted to do it in person. Dad didn't know, but Robb and the guys know, Arya does too. Everyone else really likes her – Arya even got along with her enough to spend half a day with her while I had class. I honestly don't see what the big deal is."

"I should've known. I should've known this would happen at a place like that. Ned, I can't believe we sent her to that public university. We could've saved for Maegors and this could all have been avoided," Cat said. She'd pushed herself up from her chair and was pacing back and forth around the kitchen.

"Cat, now, if you would just sit down for a –" Sansa knew her father's calm reasoning was not going to help at all in this situation. She'd seen her mother get angry at Arya before, she knew how this went.

"Really, mom? You think Highgarden is to blame? You don't think I would've been a lesbian if I'd attended Maegors, an all girls school? You think all I've been doing up at school has been thinking, 'Gods, you know what would piss off my mother? If I decided to date a girl! Wouldn't her daughter being a lesbian just be the perfect punishment for shipping me off to this public school?'"

"Gods, Sansa, don't say that word so loudly. What if the neighbors hear?"

"Mother, our closest neighbor is a half mile down the road. And what word are you talking about? Lesbian? Well, I'm sorry, but that's what I am. I apologize that your perfect daughter turned out this way, but I can guarantee you it wasn't caused by what school I went to or some girl's bad influence on me, or whatever you're thinking. This just happened. I'm sorry for not thinking about your feelings, or what the neighbors might think. I was just too busy being happy."

She'd tried to hold it together. She'd never gotten angry like this with her mother, never raised her voice to her before. Her mother had always been there for her, always accepted her, told her she was beautiful no matter what. When she was in eighth grade and Arya put three mouthfuls of gum on top of her head the day before school picture day and they had no choice but to buzz it all off. When she cried hysterically about how she'd never get into Maegors with a B+ in Algebra on her record. When she didn't know any better and got so upset when the Baratheon scandal hit and Joffrey was shipped off to the Westerlands. When she started off at Winterfell Schools on the wrong foot, not thinking and wearing her Mordane's uniform on the first day when everyone else, including her sister, had dressed in street clothes. When she'd come home from Winterfell upset because she'd never make friends, got made fun of for her fancier clothes she wore, for always raising her hand to answer questions, for being perceived as thinking she was better than all the other kids of working class families, when really she just wished she could let her guard down, forget the last ten years of prep school and finishing classes, and be carefree like they could. When her husky dog Lady, not even a year old, had ran out into the road, got hit by a car and was barely hanging on and her father had to rip her out of Sansa's arms to "take care of the situation."

The second she saw her mother carelessly sit herself back down in her chair and start crying, she couldn't hold it together any longer.

XXXXXX

"None of this matters, babe, not in the long run. She'll come around, I know it," Margaery said, pulling Sansa closer into her side and smoothing down her hair, trying her best to make Sansa realize that this was not the end of the world, just one hurdle for them.

"I'm just not used to not being accepted by her. Even if I felt like no one else was on my side, I knew that she would be. It's like starting at Winterfell High School all over again."

"It was just your mom that was upset, right? What about Ned?"

"He's fine. A little caught off guard but we talked about it for a while afterwards."

XXXXXX

Once Sansa had started crying she immediately got up from her spot at the table, grabbed her coat and shoes, and ran outside to the only place she could think of. She'd been sitting on the leaf-covered ground in the Godswood outside their house, in the very back by the largest weirwood tree and pond that Arya and her brothers used to swim in during the summer. It was about an hour before she heard the sound of footsteps and then saw her father walking towards her.

"Are you going to cry too? Or would you rather yell at me?"

"I'm not upset at you, Sansa, just surprised, that's all."

"You're not? But mom, she..."

"Your mother overreacted. She's just shocked. I don't think she meant all those things she said. Heck, like I said, you took me by surprise too. But, so far as I'm concerned, you're old enough to make your own decisions. Not only that, I just spent forty-five minutes on the phone with Robb, Jon, and Arya listening to them gab about how happy you've been these past months. You're beautiful, you're smart, and you've got such a sweet and caring personality. Anybody you choose to love would be stupid not to love you just as much as I do."

"You mean it?"

"Would I lie to you?" Ned asked. Sansa shook her head. "That's right. Now, we're going to have to meet this girl pretty soon though. I'm actually looking forward to it."

She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him, starting to cry again, but happily this time. She'd never really come to her father for comfort, at least not since she was very little. That wasn't to say he was not supportive of her, it was just always her mother who she ran to, and Arya that ran to their father when things went wrong. It felt amazing to know that he was on her side through this.

They sat there for a little while longer, not saying anything. Finally, he asked if she thought she was ready to head back and helped her off the ground.

"Now, tell me about this Gendry fellow," Ned asked once they started the walk from the back of the godswood.

"What's there to know? He's just one of the guys' friends. Really nice though, seems like he's got it all planned out. Why are you asking?"

"Just a feeling, kiddo. Ever since Arya spent that week visiting you on her break, all I her about is Gendry Waters this, and Gendry Waters that, did you know that Gendry has his mechanic's license. It never stops. Your mother thinks something's going on, but I don't know what to think. Arya's never shown any interest in any of the local boys that way before. I thought I'd be getting today's confession from her eventually, not from you."

"Dad!" She yelled and then let out a loud laugh. "You better watch out or I'll tell her you said that. Arya did spend a day or two hanging out with him while the rest of us had classes. No clue what they did, but I don't think any of us noticed it."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. She's probably just got a crush on him. He seems her type – dark and broody, leather jackets and old motorcycles, always sorta smells greasy."

"Good guy?" He asked, looking her in the eyes as he did so. He'd always told her and all of her siblings that he had a sixth sense for lies and half-truths.

"Great guy, actually," Sansa answered, meeting his gaze and wrapping her arm in his as they walked back. "Hey, dad, I don't know if I'm up for family dinner tonight with mom. Is it okay if just you and I grab something?"

"Of course, whatever you think you need."

XXXXX

"Doesn't sound like it ended that badly. Why'd you end up coming back early?"

Sansa had stopped crying for a moment and shifted herself out of Margaery's arms, sitting up straight with her legs crossed in front of her. "Dad and I grabbed dinner but it wasn't until the drive home when I realized that I was still going to have to spend the next five days or whatever in the same house with my mother. Jeyne was working, Arya was at school, so it'd be just me and mom the majority of each day. I couldn't do it. At that point I was just so tired of yelling and crying that I told Dad what I wanted to do, called Jeyne as soon as I got home, grabbed my bags, and she swung by and dropped me at the train station. I got back here and even though I know that Robb and Jon and Theon are all on my side I was scared."

"What? What's there to be scared of?"

"Everything. I just had a lot of time to think on the train, that's all, and I realized that my mother's reaction and opinions are not going to be the last. There'll be reactions like hers all of the time, or maybe just the silent ones. I don't know which are worse, and I certainly don't know if I'm strong enough for something that seems so difficult."

"Sweet summer child," Margaery said, scooting herself directly in front of Sansa, crossing her legs, and leaning up to kiss her forehead. "It is difficult, but it's worth it. There are plenty of people in my family that aren't cool with you, that weren't cool with any of my previous girlfriends, or with Loras and Renly. There's plenty of people out there that you'll meet who will judge you immediately and there are obnoxious people that will yell horrible things at us when we hold hands in public."

"I know!" she yelled, flinging out her arms in disapproval and letting them drop back down into her lap. "I don't know how you've dealt with it. I don't know if I'm brave enough for that, for everything they'll think or say."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Margaery replied as she lifted Sansa face up so she could meet her eyes. "Look at me. I don't care what they think. I don't care what they say. What do they know about this love, anyways?"

Sansa's expression softened as she looked at Margaery for a few moments, and then a slow grin broke out on her face as Margaery lowered her hands.

"…did you just quote Melissa Etheridge to me?" Sansa asked.

"Maybe."

"Maybe nothing," she replied, letting herself laugh a bit. "You totally did."

"Okay, okay, I did, but that doesn't mean it's not true. They don't know shit about our relationship, Sansa, about what we've got, or what we're working on building here. We're in this together, yea?" Margaery said.

"Yea," Sansa replied softly, nodding.

"Of course. Now, ready to come out of your room for a while?" She pushed herself up and off the bed, holding her arms out in front of her towards Sansa.

"Are you kidding? I could kill for some real food right now." She grabbed Margaery's hands and stood up off the bed, using the momentum to push herself towards Margaery and kiss her properly before walking over to her closet. "I've been living off nothing but leftovers and Diet Coke for two days." She grabbed a thick green Highgarden hooded sweatshirt off a hanger and quickly pulled it over her head.

"And that's different from every other day?"

Margaery avoided the push from Sansa and unlocked her door, pushing it open, its normal creaking noise sounding extra loud. "Come on, let's go. Whatever you want at the diner, my treat."

**Note:** I was initially going to write this in order, but I've decided against it. The whole story will get told, but not in the exact timeline. The chapter title and a bit of theme is from Melissa Etheridge's Come to My Window, which was released in 1994. I knew I couldn't tell this story without this chapter and I thought this song was great for it.


End file.
